Latest from Jay Black

Patrick Reed is your Masters champion, winning his first major by one shot over Rickie Fowler. From the back row of the Masters Press Building, the AJC’s Jeff Schultz and Steve Hummer join Jay Black from News 95.5 & AM-750 WSB to break down Reed’s victory. Among the topics in the podcast: - Why Reed wasn’t the fan favorite and why he is ok with that. - What this means for Reed’s place in golf hierarchy? - What happened to Rory McIlroy? - What to make of Jordan Spieth’s near historic comeback? - Why the Masters never disappoints on Sunday.

From the back row of the Masters Press Building in Augusta, the AJC’s Jeff Schultz and Steve Hummer join WSB Radio’s Jay Black to break down an exciting Saturday at the Masters and preview what’s to come on Sunday. The guys take a look at how Patrick Reed was able to answer every charge from Rory McIlroy on Saturday; why this isn’t going to be a direct comparison to Reed and Rory’s famous Ryder Cup duel two years ago; who will be the crowd favorite; why Patrick Reed isn’t exactly the hometown boy; the significance of McIlroy winning the career Grand Slam in the same place he fell apart in 2011. And finally, who wins the green jacket on Sunday.

Patrick Reed has a two-shot lead after the second round of the 82nd Masters. The American moves to 9-under-par after shooting 66 on Friday. From the back row of the Masters Press Building in Augusta, the AJC’s Steve Hummer and Jeff Schultz break down the second round with WSB Radio’s Jay Black and preview the play on Saturday. Among the topics: How Patrick Reed was able to post his best score, by far, at the Masters. Why he may not be fully embraced by the golf community and his relationship with Augusta. Plus, why we didn’t spend much time talking about Marc Leishman and which of the former major champions will be in the final group come Sunday (weather permitting).

The first round of the 82nd Masters is in the books with Jordan Spieth holding a two shot lead over Matt Kuchar and Tony Finau. WSB’s Radio Jay Black is joined by AJC columnist Jeff Schultz and reporter Chris Vivlamore to break down the day’s play and preview Friday’s second round. Among the topics - Can Spieth hold his lead? - The constant battle trying to follow Tiger Woods - Is Tiger out of it? - Sergio Garcia’s historic meltdown at the 15th hole - Our picks for the second round leader.

The 82nd Masters begins Thursday morning in Augusta. WSB Radio sports director Jay Black and Steve Hummer with the AJC preview the tournament. Topics include Tiger Woods return (duh). Can Phil Mickelson become the oldest winner in Masters history at age 47? Plus what about world number one Dustin Johnson and one of the hottest players on tour Justin Thomas.

TAILGATE SHOW: 1 p.m. on News 95.5 & AM-750 WSB KICKOFF: 5 p.m. LOCATION: Rose Bowl Stadium – Pasadena, Ca. TV: ESPN 2017 RECORDS & SCHEDULE: Georgia (12-1, 8-1 SEC) | Oklahoma (12-1, 8-1 Big XII) LINE: Georgia by 1.5 SERIES HISTORY: First meeting PLAYOFF NOTES: The winner faces the winner of the Sugar Bowl between Alabama and Clemson in the National Championship Game in Atlanta on January 8th. This is Georgia’s first appearance in the college football playoff Oklahoma has been in the playoff once, losing to Clemson in 2015. The Sooners played for the national championship four in the BCS era, going 1-3. OU beat FSU to win its last national title in 2000. The Sooners lost in 2003, 2004 and 2008

ATLANTA – Two years ago in a building that’s now in ruins, Kirby Smart was the center of the Bulldog universe. While Alabama was getting to set win another SEC Championship, Nick Saban’s defensive coordinator was set to become the next head coach of the University of Georgia. It was the worst kept secret in the state. All that was left was for the Crimson Tide to finish their season, which they did in spectacular fashion. Less than 24 hours after it was over Kirby was to be anointed king of Bulldog Nation. Two years later, Smart has bestowed upon his subject the riches and glory they were dreaming about. The Georgia Bulldogs are SEC Champions. Two years ago, they were TaxSlayer Bowl Championship. I don’t think the latter trophy sits quite as prominently in the case inside the Larry Munson Trophy Room. “I’m so happy,” said Smart, dripping wet from his Gatorade shower, right after the 28-7 win over Auburn became official. “It’s awesome. For the Dawg Nation. For everybody.” It is the unbridled joy that Georgia Bulldogs fans were hoping for – and some expecting – on December 6 th 2015. But the reality sure does feel better than the dream doesn’t it? Yes it’s certainly not uncommon for a coach to walk out of Atlanta with the SEC hardware in his hand. Obviously UGA fans watched Mark Richt do the same thing in 2002. But the SEC of 15 years ago isn’t quite the same as it is now. Take nothing away from Richt, but 2002 Arkansas isn’t winning the SEC West anymore. And that’s been the problem. While this league has been the most dominant it’s ever been, Georgia was left behind. The teams that won the SEC went on to bigger and better things. Alabama won its national championships. Florida got a couple. LSU got theirs. So did the fighting Cam Newtons. Georgia was left with a few division titles, some bowl swag and a fan base wondering how it got left in the dust. Now the Dawgs have caught up and they’ve done it faster than I thought they would. I was clear that I thought Mark Richt deserved the chance to fix what was broken, but I never had any problem with Kirby Smart coming in if Richt didn’t get that opportunity. I am not surprised that he has pulled this off. I am surprised that he’s done it two years after I watched his Alabama defense leave Florida in the same shape the Georgia Dome is now (by the way, if you want to make yourself sad, walk by the implosion site next week). But after that day, it didn’t take his players long to realize that the right guy was leading them. “Yeah, I remember,” said Nick Chubb, with the 2017 SEC Championship hat on his head. “(I was) happy the first day he came and spoke to us. He was busy with Alabama winning the championship, and he came in, and he just looked exhausted. We’re like, man, what’s this man been up to?” Kirby Smart has been a man in a hurry ever since. “The first time he came up to the meeting and then especially like the first practice we had,” said Roquan Smith, the SEC Championship Game MVP. “Just knowing the way he carried himself, high energy, and just the things he says, and he actually backs it up with his actions. He’s an awesome guy.” Awesome is one way to describe it. It has been asked a lot this week if Kirby thought his team was ahead of schedule. He gets annoyed with questions pretty easy, but he’s really sick of this one. “There is no schedule to winning championships,” Smart kept saying over and over again. “There is no schedule. The only thing is what you have and what you do with what you have.” What Kirby Smart had in year one wasn’t much. You can certainly there was more to that team than 8-5, but it was not worthy of winning much more than the Liberty Bowl. After that regular season was over, it was looking like Georgia was going to lose even more. But it didn’t. Nick Chubb, Sony Michel, Lorenzo Carter and Davin Bellamy all chose to stay. They obviously knew that something special could happen here. “This is why we came back,” said Sony Michel during the post game celebration. “To be back with my boys. Words can’t explain how I feel.” It doesn’t take a genius to know if those four players don’t come back, this day doesn’t happen. But they did and it has. Chubb has now rushed for more yards than everybody to ever play SEC football save one guy named Herschel. Michel will likely cross 1,000 yards in the bowl game. That duo would become the first at UGA to do that in one season. Carter, Bellamy and Smith have given UGA a linebacking core no one in the country can rival. But they still had to win. And this team still had so many questions marks when the season began. The offensive line wasn’t good enough. The secondary was thin. What about special teams? Then less than a quarter into the season, a freshman backup became the starting quarterback. Kirby Smart was not a happy guy when he found out he might have to play another season with an 18-year-old pulling the strings. That makes this even all the more impressive doesn’t it. Georgia is SEC Champions, doing it the hard way. “This is incredible,” said Fromm, moments after winning the title over Auburn 28-7. “It’s great to be a Georgia Bulldog.” No kidding. For the first time since the National Championship season of 1980, Georgia has beaten every team it’s played. No the Dawgs are not unbeaten, but they got Auburn back in the game that matters most. Now for the first time ever, Georgia is going to the College Football Playoff. It could be a trip back to New Orelans or the Dawgs could be going to the Rose Bowl for the first time in 75 years. But that is for tomorrow. Tonight, the red and black flag flies first on the SEC banner. In two years, Kirby Smart has led his alma mater, the University of Georgia, to the SEC title. UGA wanted to become what Alabama is. A team that cracks your head open on defense and pounds it down your throat on offense. And a team that wears rings when it walks out the door. Check, check and check. Georgia is SEC Champions and not a moment too soon.

Jay Black

Sports Director

Jay Black is the sports director of News 95.5 and AM-750 WSB and is the statistican for the Georgia Bulldogs Radio Network. He is also the technical director of Atlanta's Morning News with Scott Slade. Jay is a graduate of the University of Georgia.

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Family and friends are remembering a University of Georgia student who died in a fiery crash. William Aaron Whitaker, of Carrollton, died Thursday night in the crash that shut down the interstate between I-285 and Fulton Industrial Boulevard for about 10 hours, UGA spokesman Greg Trevor told AJC.com. Learn how his loved ones are honoring him, on Channel 2 Action News at 5 p.m. Whitaker was a sophomore studying exercise science and athletic training, according to an obituary on the Hightower Family Funeral Homes website. Mario Vilan Polier, 53, of Hialeah, Florida, faces charges of improper lane change, following too closely and second-degree homicide by vehicle in connection with the incident. Polier’s tractor-trailer overturned onto its passenger side while traveling on I-20 east around 7:30 p.m., crashing into a concrete barrier between the eastbound and westbound lanes, the Georgia State Patrol said. Debris from the concrete barrier went into the westbound lanes, striking two vehicles. TRENDING STORIES: Blood pressure medication recalled due to cancer risk Heads up, drivers: Multiple roads close for Super Bowl events beginning today DFCS dismissed abuse report before Georgia kids were found buried One of those vehicles was Whitaker’s, who died at the scene, GSP said. Three other people were also injured in the crash, but their conditions were not released. The deadly wreck shut down all eastbound I-20 lanes and all but one westbound lane Thursday night, and it brought brought I-20 traffic to a standstill back to Thornton Road, according to the WSB 24-hour Traffic Center. Polier is in the Fulton County Jail on a $35,000 bond, according to county jail records. He also has a hold placed on him by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

A 9-year-old boy driving an all-terrain vehicle crashed over the weekend, killing a 58-year-old passenger in Osceola County, the Florida Highway Patrol said. >> Read more trending news Troopers said the boy was trying to avoid another ATV Saturday on 8 Mile Ranch Road when the vehicle he was operating hit a brim and overturned onto Laura Bizzell, of Avon Park. The boy suffered minor injuries, but Bizzell died, according to the FHP. The other ATV driver, Samuel Christmas, 53, suffered minor injuries. Authorities continue to investigate the incident.

The first time Tom Brady won a Super Bowl ring, Sean McVay was just 16 years old. Now the Los Angeles Rams head coach, who turns 33 on Thursday, will have chance to defeat Brady and the Patriots more than 17 years later in the place where he grew up. “It’s kind of ironic that the only Super Bowl that I’ve been to as a fan was the last time the Rams played the Titans,” McVay said after winning NFC Championship. “I was at that game. My Grandpa, when he was still involved in the NFL, he got me tickets for my birthday.” Channel 2's Berndt Petersen traveled to Marist School in DeKalb County, where the head coach is still beloved in the community McVay led the War Eagles to a 6-AAAA state championship in 2003. Hear from Marist coaches about what it means to have one of their own play for Super Bowl in their backyard, on Channel 2 Action News at 4 and 5 p.m. Hero of Marist High heads to the Super Bowl. 4:45 pic.twitter.com/dSHqhYIQVv — Berndt Petersen (@BPetersenWSB) January 21, 2019 Stay with Channel 2 Action News and WSBTV.com for complete Super Bowl LIII coverage leading up to the big game. Download our news app to get FREE alerts sent to phone and tablet and find complete coverage of Super Bowl LIII in Atlanta here

Police in Tallahassee, Florida, responded to a video of a toddler exiting a truck with her hands up over her head, mimicking her parents’ arrest, and walking toward officers who had their guns drawn, by releasing body camera footage taken from a different angle, WCTV reported. >> Read more trending news The incident took place Thursday, and after the cellphone video taken by a passerby during a shoplifting arrest went viral, Tallahassee police Chief Michael DeLeo released several clips from officer body cameras, the Tallahassee Democrat reported. DeLeo said 10 different body camera angles were used in reviewing the incident. 'I believe that incidents like this justify our investment in body worn cameras and the importance of getting all the facts,' DeLeo said in a video released on the Police Department’s official Facebook page. The video released by the Tallahassee police shows the original video that went viral, followed by a statement from DeLeo about the incident. It ends with the body camera footage. On Thursday afternoon, Chad M. Bom, 34, and James W. McMullen, 38, were charged with theft from a Bealls Outlet store in Tallahassee, according to the news release posted on the Police Department’s Facebook page. Both men were charged with petit theft, the Democrat reported. The mother of the toddler was at the scene Police had responded to reports of a theft by an armed suspect at the Bealls shopping outlet around 4:30 p.m. and pulled over a truck. They were surprised when the toddler got out and began to mimic her parents, WCTV reported. 'It's OK, sweetie. You don't have to put your hands up,' one officer can be heard saying in the body camera footage. Footage also showed the police allowing the child’s mother to hold the baby while they found a pellet gun in the back seat of the vehicle near a 1-year-old boy who was still strapped into his car seat, WCTV reported. DeLeo said he was 'proud' of his officers' response, adding he felt they showed compassion for the family. “This video footage captures the compassion demonstrated by our TPD officers during an intense situation. I’m very proud of their actions and appreciative of the work these men and women do each day to keep our community safe,” Tallahassee Mayor John Dailey said in a statement.

Two people were injured Sunday night after a police car struck them as they lay in a Florida roadway, apparently to watch the lunar eclipse, according to multiple reports. >> Read more trending news The incident happened just before midnight Sunday near the Apoxee Trail, a 2.5-mile nature trail in West Palm Beach, according to WPBF and city officials. A police officer was patrolling the trail Sunday in a Ford Explorer when he struck a man and a woman, both 24, while traveling 5 mph, WPEC and WPBF reported. At the time, the area was extremely dark, according to officials. Police told WPBF that investigators believe the pair was lying in the road to photograph and watch the super blood wolf moon lunar eclipse. They were taken to a hospital with injuries that did not appear to be life-threatening, according to the news station. The officer who struck the pair, who was not identified, was placed on paid administrative leave as police investigate the incident, WPEC reported. Authorities continue to investigate.

Speaking at a commemoration of what would have been her father’s 90th birthday, Rev. Dr. Bernice King criticized the Trump administration Monday for misquoting her father’s works “to suit our own purposes.” >> Read more trending news King’s remarks were aimed at Trump’s border wall push and comments by Vice President Mike Pence, who during an appearance on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday, said: “One of my favorite quotes from Dr. King was ‘Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy.” “You think of how he changed America. He inspired us to change through the legislative process to become a more perfect union,” Pence said on the show. “That’s exactly what President Trump is calling on the Congress to do. Come to the table in the spirit of good faith. We’ll secure our border, we’ll reopen the government and we’ll move our nation forward.” >> Reflecting on MLK: 'The baddest brother of the 20th century' On Monday, during remarks at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. commemorative service at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Bernice King said: “If we really want to make real the promises of democracy, now is the time on this King holiday to stop quoting King out of context and misquoting him to suit our own purposes.” The Ebenezer audience applauded warmly. Bernice King also called for action on problems facing the country, ranging from the partial government shutdown affecting federal workers’ livelihood to the resurgence of white supremacist ideologies and voter access problems. “We are in a state emergency because of our humanitarian crises, and it’s not at our southern border,” she said. “The concern for human welfare is being threatened.” “When prejudice and bigotry are emboldened…. when schools continue to be unsafe spaces because of impotent gun control laws…. this is a humanitarian crisis and we are in a state of emergency,” King said. >> Delta contributes grant funding to re-open MLK national park During remarks at the service, U.S. Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., called for reflection on King’s words, saying: “He often reminded us that what united us is far greater than what divides us.” The service came on the holiday weekend when the Martin Luther Jr. National Historical Park reopened to visitors after a closure due to the partial federal shutdown. The reopening was funded with the help of a $83,500 grant from Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines. Reopened for Martin Luther King Jr. weekend through the Super Bowl on Feb. 3, are the historic Ebenezer Baptist Church where King was co-pastor, the home where Martin Luther King Jr. was born, the park’s visitor center and historic Fire Station No. 6. “We ought to be concerned that the cradle of the civil rights movement is also the capital of income inequality in this country today,” said Rev. Raphael Warnock, senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church.